GREEN ENERGY GETS MORE ATTENTION

From: Dr. Jai Maharaj (usenet_at_mantra.com)
Date: 10/28/04 

Date: Thu, 28 Oct 2004 19:49:09 GMT

GREEN ENERGY GETS MORE ATTENTION

Forwarded message from fidyl@yahoo.com

[ Subject: Green Energy Gets More Attention
[ From: fidyl@yahoo.com
[ Date: Wed, 27 Oct 2004

Green Energy Gets More Attention

By The Associated Press
Wednesday, October 27, 2004

http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/business/AP-Green-Energy.html

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - With oil futures soaring above $55 a
barrel and natural gas doubling in price in the last two
years, renewable energy is looking a lot better to many -
- not just on environmental merits but on price.

Wind, solar, geothermal and other green power sources
have long been championed by people worried about smog
and global warming, but until recently they were too
costly to compete.

But the surging cost of fossil fuels is changing the
economics of the energy market.

''Rising fossil fuel prices are making renewable energy
more competitive in the power market,'' said Steve Taub,
an alternative energy analyst at Cambridge Energy
Research Associates.

Renewable energy can't offer much relief to drivers and
companies seeing their profits evaporate because of
skyrocketing oil prices, because viable green
alternatives to gasoline are hard to find. Biofuels such
as ethanol and biodiesel aren't widely available, and
hydrogen-powered cars aren't expected to hit the market
for years.

But in the electricity market, green power, especially
wind, is already competing with traditional sources. At
today's average wholesale prices, wind costs 4.2 cents
per kilowatt hour, compared with 4 cents for coal, 6.8
cents for natural gas, 9.1 cents for oil and 10 cents for
nuclear power, according to Kyle Datta, managing director
at the Rocky Mountain Institute, a research group focused
on eco-friendly business.

Experts estimate that at today's consumption rates, known
global supplies of oil and natural gas would be depleted
within decades. But prices are expected to rise
significantly long before supplies run out, making those
fuels too expensive to use at current levels.

''They're never going to run out, but the ability to
match supply to demand may already have run out,
especially for oil,'' said Stephen Leeb, president of
Leeb Capital Management and co-author of ''The Oil
Factor,'' which predicts that oil could hit $100 a barrel
by 2010.

In the short term, fossil fuel prices are being driven up
by war, political instability, natural disasters and
other variables. The long-term outlook is clearer --
global supplies are dwindling as demand soars,
particularly in China and India, where automobiles are
multiplying and economies are growing at breakneck speed.

''We should treat the prices as a warning that we need to
act to promote energy efficiency and renewable energy,''
said Ralph Cavanagh, an energy expert at the Natural
Resources Defense Council. ''They represent a terrible
threat to the vitality of the United States.''

Meanwhile, improving technology, tax credits, low
interest rates and government mandates are making
renewables more widely available, establishing an
inexhaustible energy supply that will keep driving prices
down.

Sixteen states, including California, New York and Texas,
have adopted ''renewable portfolio standards'' that
require utilities to buy a certain share of their
electricity from renewable sources.

Some major oil companies, particularly BP PLC, are
investing to develop alternative fuels such as hydrogen,
wind and solar. BP Solar, a BP subsidiary, has grown
about 30 percent annually, boosted by government
incentives that make solar competitive in sunny states
such as California, said spokeswoman Sarah Howell.

''BP invests in it because we see it as a long-term
business that will grow ever stronger,'' she said.

Less than 3 percent of U.S. electricity now comes from
renewables such as wind, solar, geothermal, wood and
waste, but that share is expected to increase as the
price of fossil fuel rises.

Increasingly, solar power is gaining popularity with
individual homeowners and businesses that want to
generate their own power, but it isn't used much by
utilities. Geothermal energy is limited by geography, and
biomass is still being developed as a reliable fuel
source.

Wind, which makes up less than 1 percent of the nation's
energy supply, is the fastest growing source of renewable
power. Over the past five years, large scale wind farms
have been built in Texas, California, Kansas, Wyoming and
other states.

Advocates point to wind's numerous advantages: Wind is
free and inexhaustible, it doesn't generate smog or
greenhouse gas, and its price is more stable than its
chief competitor, natural gas. The downside is that the
wind doesn't always blow, and not all regions have strong
wind resources.

The Energy Information Administration has calculated the
average price -- factoring in fuel, construction and
operating costs -- of various electricity sources over 20
years starting in 2010. It estimates that wind would cost
$50.54 per megawatt hour, compared with $61.32 for
nuclear power, $53.42 for coal and $49.66 for natural
gas.

Despite renewed attention on renewable energy, some
analysts say the current spike in fossil fuel prices
won't significantly boost the alternative energy market.
They say governments must promote renewable energy, raise
fuel efficiency standards and encourage investment in
research.

For now, advocates are pleased that pocketbook concerns
are generating renewed interest in green power.

''It brings attention to the need to diversify America's
energy portfolio,'' said George Douglas, spokesman for
the National Renewable Energy Laboratory in Golden, Colo.
''It raises people's awareness of the cost of energy and
where energy comes from.''

End of forwarded message from fidyl@yahoo.com

Jai Maharaj
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     "For I am come to set a man at variance against his father, and the
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law.
     "And a man's foes shall be they of his own household.
 - Matthew 10:34-36.

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